


Sabaku Bar

by SailorHeichou



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bar Owner!Gaara, Bars and Pubs, Brotp, Children, Drunken Confessions, Drunkenness, Eavesdropping, Established Relationship, F/M, Gaara is awkward, Gaara misunderstands, Happy Birthday Easter Bun Bun, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, SasuNaru brotp, Sasuke's an idiot, Supportive Siblings, as usual, birthday fic, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6455785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorHeichou/pseuds/SailorHeichou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A (second) birthday gift for my best friend. The combination of two different tumblr prompts we saw: </p><p><em><q>I see you with the same person all the time and I assume you two are in a relationship so I’ll just pine for you from a distance au.</q></em><br/>and<br/><em><q>I work the late shift at the bar and you recently started being a regular during the evening, always looking like a wreck and one day I finally worked up the nerve to ask if you were okay.</q></em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sabaku Bar

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another possible mistake I'm making at 11:30 PM, but, I mean, I don't really give a shit, so, fucking deal with it, yeah?
> 
> Birthday fic for my sister from another mister, Sydney. GaaNaru for me and SasuHina for her. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.

Gaara had seen the same attractive blond come into his bar with the same attractive raven for the past four Saturday's straight. 

At first, Gaara hadn't paid much mind to the duo, not even sparing them a glance as he usually did with most of his bar patrons. The redhead didn't really _do_ social interaction very well; he never has. But there was just _something_ about the blond that made him stop and do a double take. 

Maybe it was the way the recessed lighting from the bar's overhead reflected in his much-too-blue eyes; the color of sapphires that glittered with the millions of stars in the galaxy or maybe it was how his blond hair reminded Gaara of a field of wheat shining absolute golden in the morning sunrise. Whatever it was, Gaara was quite taken with his bar's newest customer and he'd made sure to keep one eye on him the entire night. 

The blond hadn't done anything specifically amazing. He'd taken a seat at the bar along with his attractive (if somewhat broody) friend and flagged down Temari who was the only bartender on duty that night. Then, he'd ordered a beer (unsurprising) and his friend had ordered a Scotch. Gaara was a little disappointed with the blond's predictable order but one couldn't have everything. He was simply content with stealing little glimpses of the blond beauty from afar; It wasn't every night Gaara got to ogle beautiful men while working. 

That first encounter ended rather uneventfully, with his blond Adonis drinking four beers before he'd seemed to get into a bit of an argument with his raven-haired friend and then they'd both left the bar looking rather disgruntled. It was then that Gaara had his suspicions. 

The fourth encounter went much like the first. With Gaara's eye being caught by a flash of yellow from the corner of his tired eyes and the redhead following after it immediately, hoping that it was his gorgeous flaxen-haired wet-dream strutting into the bar with all the confidence of a male peacock flashing his colorful tail-feathers for all to see. To the redhead's pleasant satisfaction, it was his cocky blond walking in and he was alone this time, unlike the last three times Gaara had seen him walk in.

Sea-foam green eyes followed the line of his blond dream boy's body and lingered on the way the burnt orange button up he was wearing hugged his muscled torso perfectly in all the right places. Gaara continued to trace broad shoulders, a wide back, a well muscled chest and a beautifully shaped ass that was also being hugged by dark washed jeans. When the blond flashed a big white smile at his sister who simply nodded her head back in acknowledgement, Gaara thought that maybe-- just _maybe_ he'd be able to go up and _talk_ to him this time, maybe learn his name and whether or not he swung that way or not. Although, the redhead wasn't all that worried about that. He was almost 99% positive his blond cutie was gay or at least bisexual because why else would he have come to a gay bar in the first place? 

Gaara had mentally prepared himself to walk on over to the bar where his blond beauty sat at a corner. Temari was about to take his order and Gaara saw his window of opportunity, but it was soon closed when he saw that same attractive raven from the last time come up from behind his blond and touch him on the back familiarly. The blond had smiled when those blue eyes laid eyes on the other man and Gaara felt his heart sink. 

"You're late, bastard." the blond had taunted and Gaara hated how every time hearing that gruff voice made his stomach flip-flop uncomfortably in his stomach. 

"Don't start, idiot." the raven had sassed back, rolling his dark eyes and then glaring at the poor unsuspecting patron that was occupying the seat next to the blond's. 

The slightly tipsy bar patron noticed the way the raven was practicing glaring holes into the side of his side and Gaara saw the way he swallowed nervously before making some half-assed attempt to skim the bar before he stood up from his seat and left, beer in hand. The raven then casually slipped into the now unoccupied seat and sighed heavily, shoulders sagging. Gaara noticed with no little amount of disinterest that the raven was wearing a simple black button up paired with black slacks. 

"Scotch." 

"I'll have a Long Island Iced Tea!" 

To say that Gaara was surprised by the blond's sudden change of drink would be a bit of an understatement, but no one outside of his siblings would know it since Gaara had long since mastered the art of masking all and any emotion on his face. 

Temari had noticed Gaara lingering behind the bar and she shot him a questioning look with a raise of one thin brow. Gaara had simply dismissed her curious expression by looking away from her altogether and pretending to be interested in something that was going on at a rather large party of men sitting in a booth near the far brick wall. The group was laughing raucously and Gaara had slightly frowned at all the noise but he kept his spot standing behind the bar and leaning casually against a shelf of vodka and brandy.

"You look exhausted." The blond had spoken up again after he'd taken a sip of his drink and smacked his lips. "They working you like a dog down at the station again?"

"Don't talk to me about work, Naruto." the raven had groaned, taking one long sip of the golden brown liquid in his glass tumbler and sighing afterwards. "If I have to recount what those _morons_ down at the precinct did to one more person today, I'll commit a homicide myself." 

So, Gaara's nameless blond was nameless no more. His name was Naruto. Huh. Well, Gaara could get used to that.

"Okay, okay, I won't ask about work. Geez, Sasuke. Take a chill pill, huh? RELAX." Naruto defended with a huff. 

The raven had shot Naruto a withering glare but it seemed to have no effect on the blond who simply smirked back at him and then nudged him in the shoulder playfully, earning him an exasperated sort of snort from the raven who seemed to relax. 

"Sorry," Sasuke mumbled. "It's been pretty hectic, you know?"

"I know," Naruto nodded with understanding clear in his eyes. "Hey, lets talk about something else, alright?"

Now, it wasn't Gaara's style to eavesdrop on people's conversations. Most of the time that was because he just didn't give a shit about listening to some of his patron's sob stories. Naruto, of course, was a different case. Gaara was eager to learn as much as he possibly could about the blond despite already suspecting that the blond and the raven were probably in a relationship. It was obvious they were more than just close friends with the way they touched each other so casually and how they seemed to understand how far they could push each other with taunts and insults. It made Gaara's heart ache painfully in his chest. 

Eventually, Gaara had to leave his spot behind the bar to tend to a problem near the entrance. Kankuro was his bar's bouncer and head of security, so it was a little annoying that his older brother couldn't control a situation that was getting out of hand with a couple of rowdy, drunk patrons. He was gone for a total of twenty minutes, maybe twenty-five minutes tops and when he returned to his spot behind the bar so that he could resume learning more about his blond, Gaara was slightly annoyed to see that Sasori had replaced Temari as the bartender. 

The older redhead was wearing a tight black t-shirt with the Bar's name in small white font across his left pectoral, black pants and a black apron around his waist. Gaara didn't particularly have anything against Sasori, but he didn't exactly go out of his way to become friends with the other man either. It was mutual sort of understanding between them; Sasori does his job and Gaara signs his paychecks. Simple. 

Gaara was surprised to see that Sasori was engaging in a less than stimulating conversation with Sasuke, who seemed just as inclined to talk to Sasori as Sasori was to talk to him. The younger redhead walked behind the bar and started picking up some used glasses that had been left behind by some patrons who'd just left and he got started on cleaning them. This gave him an excuse to be behind the bar despite Temari not working and also allowed him to continue to listening in on the conversation between Naruto and Sasuke and now Sasori. 

"Itachi never mentioned you worked here." Sasuke had drawled, sounding as indifferent as Gaara felt about this whole conversation. 

Sasori had simply shrugged, "It pays well."

"Hm," 

The conversation came to an awkward lull and even Gaara could feel the obvious tension of a forced interaction. He could tell that Sasuke was just talking with Sasori out of obligation instead of genuine interest and Sasori was just being Sasori. Even Naruto looked awkward as he took a sip of his drink and shifted his eyes between the two men curiously. 

"Another Scotch?" Sasori finally broke the silence, gesturing toward Sasuke's near empty tumbler. 

"We probably shouldn't," The raven rejected, standing up from his seat and reaching into his back pant pocket for his wallet. "It's getting late. Let's go home, Naruto."

The blond looked about ready to protest but thought better of it when Sasuke shot him a look that said 'shut-up-and-lets-go'. With a sigh, Naruto abandoned his drink and stood up from his seat while smoothing out any wrinkles from the front of his button up. 

"Yeah, alright." 

Sasuke had thrown down a few crisp bills on the sleek bar top before pocketing his wallet once more and walking off ahead of the blond who flashed a smile at Sasori and thanked him for his drink. Then Naruto left a tip since Sasuke had seemed to forget, or so it seemed. Gaara watched the couple go and his eyes lingered on Naruto's back feeling a horrible sense of longing in his chest . This little crush of his was getting ridiculous. 

"You know those two?" Gaara caught himself asking.

Sasori had looked up and seemed slightly surprised to see Gaara of all people voluntarily speaking to him. Brown eyes seemed to study Gaara's expression for a moment before the other redhead shrugged. 

"Not personally." 

Gaara had nodded but the conversation sort of dyed from there. The two redheads stood behind the bar in awkward silence; Sasori wiping down the bar top with a towel and Gaara washing the last of the glasses in the sink. 

"So, are those two dating or?" Honestly, Gaara wasn't sure why he was suddenly being so chatty all of a sudden and with Sasori of all people. Curiosity maybe?

"I honestly wouldn't know," Sasori said, shrugging one of his slender shoulders halfheartedly. "Sasuke's the little brother of a friend of mine. I don't really make it my business to know about his personal affairs." 

And that was how Sasori had ended their odd conversation before walking away to go and tend to some other patrons sitting at the bar. It had left Gaara with more questions than answers and he was a little peeved at this, but, the redhead was determined to figure this out the next time Naruto and Sasuke came in together.

\- X -

The next time Naruto and Sasuke come in, Gaara had been late coming into work and had already been sitting at the bar for who knows how long by the time Gaara had taken up his usual spot behind the bar pretending to be overlooking things despite Temari knowing better. She'd flashed her baby brother a toothy grin before waggling her eyebrows at him which only made Gaara frown and look away from her in annoyance.

Judging by the way Sasuke seemed to be draped over Naruto's shoulder and swaying a bit in his seat, Gaara could only assume that the two had been here for awhile and they'd consumed plenty of alcohol. At least, enough to have the usually stoic raven looking very tipsy and disoriented. 

"There was just crayons and tiny plastic animals _everywhere_!" Sasuke had slurred. "Why-Why are kids so damn messy, huh? It's like-- It's like they're out to make your life miserable sometimes even though they're so fucking adorable, ya know?" 

Naruto had laughed loudly, "That's how kids are, dumbass. They drive us crazy but we love them anyway." 

"I'm serious, Nar." Sasuke grunted. "You know I love our kid, I really do, but he'll seriously be the death of me." 

"I know, Sas." The blond smiled warmly. "He takes after you, you know. Now you know just how annoying you were when we were kids and why I used to hate your guts." 

"I thought it was because you liked me, idiot." Sasuke leered. The shade of crimson Naruto turned had Gaara feeling mildly jealous that he wasn't the cause of it. 

"S-Shut up, you bastard! Want me to kick your ass!?" 

"Come on, Admit it. You liked me when we were kids." 

"Sasuke," Naruto warned. "Stop talking."

Having had enough of watching the object of all his affections flirting openly with his drunk lover, Gaara decided it was enough now. He'd gotten all the information he'd needed to know now and he was starting feel a little sick to his stomach. He needed fresh air. 

"I'm going out for a smoke," he mumbled to Temari on his way toward the back emergency exit where he firmly pressed his body against the heavy door until it opened and cool October air hit his face.

Gaara took in a deep breath and sighed, seeing his breath leave him in a puff of vapor as he staggered over toward an opposite brick wall and sagged against it heavily. In reality, this shouldn't have been affected Gaara as badly as it was. He didn't _know_ Naruto and Naruto didn't _know_ him; hell, Naruto probably didn't even know he even existed, let alone that Gaara had a huge, fat crush on him. But finding out just how close Sasuke and Naruto were and actually hearing from their mouths that they were parents to a kid together just made everything a little more real for the redhead who suddenly felt like the weight of the world was starting to come crashing down on him. 

It probably wouldn't have worked out anyways, he reasoned with himself. He had too many issues and a past that some would definitely call shitty which resulted in his inability to properly interact with people in normal ways in normal social situations. 

He was fucked up, and there was no way someone as perfect as Naruto would have ever looked his way. He was just too _bright_ and Gaara's inner darkness would only smother that light until it burned out. 

Gaara rummaged around in his pant pockets and pulled out his half-finished pack of cigarettes. Tapping the bottom of the pack, Gaara picked one cancerous stick out and balanced it between thin lips as he searched for his lighter. Finding it in back pocket, Gaara flicked the zippo lighter open with ease and felt something inside his chest ease when he heard the loud and familiar _'clink'_ that accompanied it. 

He took one long satisfying drag, feeling the fire burn into his throat and down his throat into his lungs and causing the rest of his anxious tension to seep out of his shoulders and back, further sinking into the cool brick stones and letting the sturdy wall support his weight. Gaara simply slouched there for awhile, breathing in the mixture of cool fall air and the fiery smoke in his lungs before breathing it out slowly and watching the way the vapor curled around in the air in graceful wisps. 

The silence was just what he needed, but it was soon disturbed by the sound of an all too familiar voice coming around the corner and Gaara immediately tensed once more. 

"This is why I don't like getting drunk with you anymore, ya damn bastard!" Naruto's voice bled in through the thick silence. 

"Naruto-o-o-o," A drunken Sasuke slurred. "Where're we goin?" 

"I'm putting you in a cab and letting it drive you home." 

"Home?" 

"Yeah, you know. That place you go to every night after work to sleep and shower and eat?" the blond snorted. 

Gaara went completely still as he watched the blond walk out into the sidewalk with a trashed Sasuke hanging off his side. Naruto looked frustrated as he did his best to balance what looked like a very heavy Sasuke. The redhead watched in silence, not daring to move for fear of drawing unnecessary attention to himself. 

"Where's Hinata?" Sasuke asked, blearily looking around and frowning when he didn't find who he was looking for. "Nar, where is she? I need to-- need to tell her how amazing she is." 

"She's at home, smart guy. Which is exactly where you're going once I can flag down a cab." 

"Hinata's so beautiful, dude." 

"I know, man." 

"No, like, you don't understand. She's--she's so perfect and kind and sweet and she's great with the baby." 

"Sas, I know. That's kind of why you married her." Naruto huffed a laugh. 

"I don't deserve her." 

"No, you don't." 

"She's too good for me!" 

"Yeah, she is." 

"I LOVE MY AMAZING WIFE!!" 

Gaara blinked owlishly as he heard Sasuke's drunken proclamations. Had he heard correctly? Did Sasuke just say he... loved his _wife_? Well, now Gaara was starting to feel just a little foolish. 

"Stop yelling in my ear, you fucking dick!" 

"Nar, you're my best friend, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You better not puke on me!" 

Finally, Naruto managed to hail a cab and it was a rather comical sight to see the blond struggle to deposit a half-limp Sasuke into the back of the cab before finally succeeding after many failed attempts and shutting the back passenger door closed. With a sigh of relief, the blond wiped some sweat that had beaded on his forehead before he leaned forward and recited an address to the cabby who looked less than pleased to be driving a semi-unconscious patron around. Naruto flashed him a sheepish smile before fishing into his pocket for his wallet. 

"Here, let me." Gaara spoke up as he finally walked out of the shadows and out into the fluorescent streetlight. 

Naruto's head whipped up and cerulean blues searched for the source of the voice until they landed on Gaara's form. The redhead did his best to keep his composure as he approached the cabby's window and handed him a crisp fifty $100 bill. 

"Keep the change." 

Nodding, the formerly surly cabby fastened his seat belt and drove off in the direction of the address Naruto had given him. Speaking of which, Gaara had turned to look at the blond who was smiling sheepishly at him now while rubbing the back of his head. 

"You didn't have to do that, you know." 

Gaara shrugged, "I wanted to." 

A silence fell over them, but not an awkward one. The two men just seemed to be taking the other in as if this were the first time they were seeing each other. Naruto shoved a hand into his pocket and shifted his weight over to his other foot causing a hip to jut out; Gaara did his best not to check him out despite wanting to so very badly. 

"You're the owner of this bar, right? Temari's brother?" Gaara nodded and Naruto's smile widened. "I thought I recognized you. Temari's boyfriend, Shikamaru, mentioned you before."

"Ah," Gaara said, shifting his gaze down and away from Naruto as he stared at the cement with mild interest. "It was kind of just... given to me." 

"That's cool. I'd never been to this bar until recently but I'd heard about it. I'm glad I came to check it out, It's really become my favorite place to hang out and grab a drink. Plus, it's close to my place." 

That caught Gaara's attention, "You live around?" he asked, voice nor expression betraying how excited he actually was to hear this bit of information. 

"Yeah! You know that shitty apartment building a couple of blocks down from here around the corner of Leaf and 9th?" Gaara nodded again. "That's my place." Naruto grinned.

"So," the redhead fished out another cigarette and lit it up before taking slow deliberate drags. He found that he was still nervous and he needed something for his hands to do. "What do you like about my bar?" 

"Everything!" The blond laughed. "It's just so chill and comfortable. I don't feel pressured into socializing with anyone and the bartenders aren't nosy about your business. Everyone just kind of leaves you to your own stuff and you can drink and listen to some good music in peace." 

"Hmm," was all Gaara could hum because, what did one say to that? He wasn't used to getting compliments and definitely wasn't used to getting them from hot blond guys who made Gaara's heart do somersaults.

"And," Naruto continued, looking and sounding a little more shy as a lovely pink flush tinted his whiskered cheeks and he looked away. "I thought the owner was pretty cute." 

Gaara very nearly choked on an inhale of smoke and nicotine but barely just managed to save face by exhaling quickly through his nostrils. Still, the redhead awkwardly cleared his throat and flicked the cigarette to the ground before snuffing it out with the sole of his boot. Naruto was looking anxious and Gaara thought it was very unusual to see the usual confident and cocky Naruto looking so nervous and out of his element. Of all the scenarios Gaara had thought of for just such a situation, this was never the outcome he'd expected. 

"That's good to know," Gaara started as he shoved a hand into one of his pockets as well. "Because the owner would like to know if you'd let him buy you a drink." 

The reply was immediate, "I'd be insulted if he didn't."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Easter Bunny! <333


End file.
